Message from Haiti

3 Days Back from Les Cayes, Haiti and I somehow still feel a bit overwhelmed at what to think about all that I saw there...

Here are some stats to chew on:

*A little over 8M people
*75% Unemployment
*55% Illiteracy
*Average Life Expectancy 50 yrs.
*Marked as the poorest country in the world

We complain about the price of gas, and yet we still can pay the bill. We complain about our housing market and yet many Haitians' will NEVER have a house. If they do its made from mud and has 4 walls, no roof and in many cases a 15x20 2 room house will contain 13-15 people!!! They have to sleep in shifts because there is not enough room.

One of our trip leaders said it very well. Very few Haitians' have choices! When you think about we make hundreds if not thousands of choices everyday. What shirt to wear, what to have for breakfast, lunch, dinner too. What to do after dinner; a movie, some tv if so what should we watch. In Haiti, there are very few choices to be made each day.

Even many of the under-privileged in the US would be considered well off in Haiti. Its truly amazing to see and understand it. In the midst of all of this many of the Haitian people we met were very positive, very close to God and had their priorities in line. God, Family, themselves, and not a whole lot else.

Perhaps the way to live a life worthy of anything, we need less? Perhaps its the distractions and societal expectations that get in our way?

In any case I will no longer look at hunger, orphans and the needy in the same light. Like it or not, agree with it or not, we are all connected and we will be judged by how we treat one another. Its a simple thought but one that is weighing on my mind, knowing this on one thing but what do I do now that the "cat is out of the bag" so to speak? Where do we go from here?

I thought that this trip would be a "nice thing to do", I mean with everything that has gone on with me in the last few years I wanted to do some things that I have always been meaning to do and never taken the time to do. Little did I know that this one in particular would be this profound.

I would ask you all to consider a few thoughts:

*What is it your putting off?
*What more do you need in this life?
*Do you feel connected to the people of this world?

Check out www.c3missions.org They are doing some incredible things. Perhaps some answers are out there for you. Perhaps you just need to ask a few more questions of yourself, I know I do.